North Eastern News
Dog's Eye View: Seeing daily life on tour
By Courtney King
News Staff
10/1/97
Riding high on a stream of successful tours with Counting Crows, Tori Amos and Cracker, lead singer of
Dog’s Eye View, Peter Stuart, calls from New York City where the band is playing in support of its new
album "Daisy."
"I’m on tour all the time," Stuart said. "I love the road and that’s where the whole album except one song
was written. I am inspired by everyday life and I just pay attention and watch. Basically the schedule is
that we drive overnight, get up, do a couple of radio shows, sound check, eat dinner, then play."
Stuart and Dog’s Eye View have spent most of the past three years
touring behind the band’s first album "Happy Nowhere," which gained
popularity with the song "Everything Falls Apart."
Stuart, who studied film and English at Northwestern University, has
gained recognition from the media and his peers as a talented songwriter
who has the ability to find exuberance in the simple things; he relates to
people more as a friend than a rock star.
When his uncle gave him a guitar at 13, Stuart discovered he had a knack
for song writing. Accompanied by his acoustic guitar and notebooks full of
songs, he worked his way up the small club circuit. Soon, Stuart
befriended Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows and was offered a spot as
the opening act.
"Yeah, Adam is a friend of mine," Stuart said. "It is fun touring with him,
and actually he sings guest vocals on two of the songs on the new album."
"Daisy," the second album from Dog’s Eye View, is filled with songs that
relate to everyday life beginning with "The Trouble With Love." Dealing
with the situation of going back home, "Homecoming Parade" is a track
that has been receiving radio play.
Stuart, who is originally from Long Island, recently moved to Seattle. "I
don’t go home to Long Island very often, and when I do, I basically just
hang around at my mom’s place," he said. "Everybody is pretty much
moved around now, and I love Seattle. It is just really beautiful there."
According to Stuart, the album’s title is named after his deceased dog and
the character Daisy Buchanan from "The Great Gatsby."
"Making music just comes natural to me," Stuart said. "It serves a total
catharsis for me and is a way that I get release. I didn’t pick music as my
career really; it basically just picked me. If I wasn’t doing this I’m sure
something would just occur but nothing else excites me."
In a world of constant motion and meeting new people, Stuart suggests
that he feels basically like a lost soul. If he were a fan looking at himself, he
said he would like to be respected as honest and integral as well as
entertaining and believable.
"Anywhere I catch my breath could be considered home," he said, "you
know basically anywhere I hang for a bit I’m comfortable."
http://www.nunews.neu.edu/nu-news/Issues/100197/y4.html
